8/28/14 - Braces Gnomes are REAL

So, either I brush my teeth like a wild animal or a Viking (like, with an axe), or Braces Gnomes are REAL, and they WILL sneak into your place in the middle of the night and wreck shit up while you're sleeping.  So no shit, there I was, driving in to work minding my own business when I felt like something was.... off.  At first I thought maybe something was lodged between my back two teeth on my left side.  After discovering I couldn't fiddle it out with my tongue, I grabbed my little mini-brush-thing at a stoplight and dug after it a bit more intensely.

Which was a mistake.

That's when I felt that the wire was loose and dangly back there.  I thought maybe the crimper that secured the end of the wire had popped off and had gotten lodged between the back two brackets while I was brushing.  But my back tooth was out of the whole braces loop thing, was missing pressure, and had definitely moved of its own accord like an unruly sheep out of the pen.  So, I called and made an appt to have this fixed.  (sidenote: If that's what this is going to feel like when ALL of the brackets come off... holy crap - just the ONE was weird enough. I can also see the value of wearing a retainer.)

On the way there, I realized that I had an appt for my next adjustment within the next five days, so upon arrival we just decided to kill two birds with one stone.  It turns out that the back bracket had come loose, so they reattached, and then sewed in what they called my "final" wire - it is literally the last, and biggest, wire I'll have to wear.  I was also informed that my treatment would be ending sooner than originally anticipated - YAY!  So, I may only have 4-5 more months, putting me at a full treatment length of 10-11 months instead of the original 12-14 month guess.  This wire will still need to be adjusted as we go along, but it's the last one.

But BOY did it smart going in because of that back tooth that got away.  It was angry.  I'm overdue for an updated picture, though, so here we go!

7/15/14 - Gettin' there!

HyVee was happy to remind me last night, in all of my brace-face glory, that today is National Gummy Worm Day.  *sniff*

Had my most recent adjustment last Thurs, the 10th.  I had been warned that this one might be as bad as last time, but it really hasn't been too awful.  I was told by the orthodontist, though, that with my next adjustment in Sept I will likely be ready for my "final wire."  I'm assuming this means that it'll be the last wire they put on me, which makes the adjustment(s) I receive after that somewhat easy, as they'll only really involve re-tying to the wire and making sure everything remains in position.  That wire, however, is the biggest wire, so it'll likely be awful.  They had initially wanted to schedule me for a Fri afternoon appt, right before a Faire weekend.  LOL!!!! I requested we change the date.  Like, post haste.

My teeth are nearly straight, though.  Amazing difference.  I have pictures I've taken after the last adjustment, and I have pictures taken from this one as well, I need to post them.  I swear I will!

6/26/14 - Worth it? Signs pointing to "Yes."

Starting to feel awwwwwful darned pretty when I smile...

5/22/14 - WHY GOD, WHY?!?

Okay, so, I know I should've posted after my first adjustment because I expected it to be more than what it really was.  But nothing spectacular happened, and I couldn't think of anything to say.  Then I had my second adjustment this past Tuesday.  I have much to say now.  I'll start from the beginning, though.

So, I went in on 4/15/14 for my first adjustment.  They re-wired my brackets, and wrapped each individual one in steel.  There was a lot of pushing and prodding on my teeth that led me to believe that I was going to be in for one hell of a ride over the following few days, but instead I ended up feeling a lot like this:

It went so smoothly that I honestly thought that the rest of this treatment was going to be a breeze.  Oh... oh sweet, sweet summer child.  I had gone eight weeks since I'd gotten the braces on til my first adjustment, so I was a little surprised when they told me to come back in five weeks for the second adjustment.  But, I scheduled the appointment and put it on my calendar.  This past Tuesday, 5/20/14, was the date.  I went in expecting about the same as last time.

Which, really, is sort of what happened, at first.  We re-wired the braces, and again wrapped the brackets in steel.  But what I didn't know was just how big a leap we made in the gauge of the wire.  It was quite a bit different.  Immediately after it was done I could feel how much more pressure was being placed on my teeth.  By the end of the night, I was feeling a lot like this:

And now, on Thurs, I feel much the same way.  Aleve isn't quite cutting the pain.  I feel like I have something large lodged between every single one of my teeth.  It's shooting pain all the way up into my eyes and sinuses.  When the aleve wears off, I can feel my pulse in my teeth.  And from what I understand from the orthodontist, the next adjustment we make another big jump in wire gauge.  YAY.  And right before my birthday...  At least I have eight weeks again this time...

They've been having trouble getting my right canine and the incisor next to it to turn.  All of my other teeth have turned nicely, but those don't seem to want to budge. However today, looking at them, I think I can finally see movement.  The brackets for those two teeth have been touching each other thus far, making flossing soooo much fun, but I can see space now, and I've been able to get a small pipe-cleaner-like cleaning brush between there for the first time.  I'll do a photo mashup again later today so you can see progress, but if next adjustment goes like this one - and I suspect it very much will - there's likely more progress to come and greater hope that those teeth will finally straighten.  Really, they're the whole reason I'm doing this - those two teeth right there.

4/15/14 - Yeee...?

First adjustment today.  Which means my left-side teeth are all, "Hey, let's be sore today - whoohooo party!"

4/8/14 - A mashup =)

Here's a look at my progress so far, in order =D

(click to embiggen, yo)

4/8/14 - Next week...

Time for an updated photo!  I need to make a mashup of my pictures in a row, so we can see progress linearly.  When I look in a mirror, they seem different to me, but it's hard to tell.

Anyhoo, NEXT WEEK!  Next Tuesday is the big day - my First Adjustment. I've heard it's awful.  I'm expecting awful.  Gonna have to stock up on the soft foods again.... WHEEEEEE.....